Logo image
  • BookDragon
  • About
  • The Blogger
  • Review Policy
  • Smithsonian APAC
 
42114
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-42114,single-format-standard,stardust-core-1.1,stardust-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,stardust-theme-ver-3.1,ajax_updown_fade,page_not_loaded,smooth_scroll

BookDragon Blog

26 Apr / Grendel’s Guide to Love and War: A Tale of Rivalry, Romance, and Existential Angst by A.E. Kaplan [in Shelf Awareness]

Tom Grendel can divide his 17-year-old life in “exactly three phases: before Mom, after Mom but before Dad/Iraq, and my current post-Dad/Iraq period.” Tom’s mother died suddenly when he was 9. His father deployed to Iraq, leaving Tom and his sister, Zipora, with their grandmother. Dad returned as the sole limbs-intact survivor of an IED explosion, Zip left for college, father and son moved “to our quiet house by the lake, and all was well… enough, anyway.”

Besides doing lawncare for the neighborhood’s mostly elderly women, summer vacation was supposed to be spent hanging out with best buddy Ed Park. Then TV journalist Ellen and her two teenagers – intractable Rex and enticing Willow – move in next door, and Ellen promptly disappears to cover an out-of-state story – leaving the house party-ready. The unrelenting thumping music into the wee hours is enough to trigger Tom’s father’s PTSD, exiling him to a Florida business trip. His absence gives Tom two weeks to stop the madness before Dad can come home. Complications grow – inept, bribable police, Willow’s kisses, the enabling appearance of Rex and Willow’s cousin Wolf, and the return of prodigal sister Zip.

A.E. Kaplan’s debut novel proves raucous and entertaining, but it’s also got centuries-old history attached: literary aficionados might recognize enough of the characters’ unique names and plot lines as an homage to Beowulf, albeit epically reimagined and reclaimed from Grendel’s point of view. Old English lesson aside, Kaplan’s witty writing – enhanced with attack dogs, high pigs, long-lost love letters, and a (really awful) painting – should do just fine as boisterous, contemporary fun.

Discover: Tom Grendel could never have predicted that his summer vacation might involve loud parties, pranks-gone-wrong, missing parents, needy elderly, and (of course) the girl next door.

Review: “Children’s & Young Adult,” Shelf Awareness, April 21, 2017

Readers: Young Adult

Published: 2017

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Korean American, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers Tags > A.E. Kaplan, BookDragon, Coming-of-age, Death, Family, Father/son relationship, Grendel's Guide to Love and War, Love, Mental Illness, Parent/child relationship, Shelf Awareness, Siblings
No Comment

Post a Comment
Cancel Reply

Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Center

Capital Gallery, Suite 7065
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024

202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

Additional contact info

Mailing Address
Capital Gallery
Suite 7065, MRC: 516
P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Fax: 202.633.2699

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

Learn More

Contact BookDragon

Please email us at SIBookDragon@gmail.com

Follow BookDragon!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Looking for Something Else …?

or